Articles

The Onion, America's finest satirical news source, is celebrating its 21st birthday this week. Here follows a celebratory homage, an imagining of what a Columbia edition of The Onion — we’ll
call it The Chive —would look like.

Damon A. Williams, 24, has been charged with first-degree murder in a home invasion in which a 22-year-old Columbia man was shot and killed. Williams will stand trial this week in the 13th Circuit Court for Boone County.

James Robert Pezold, 25, drove his truck onto a sidewalk at the Walmart on West Broadway and knocked down a 2-year-old when he tried to run over two black families who had just finished shopping, police said.

Missouri is one of the first seven states to partner with Microsoft Corp. in the company's "Microsoft Elevate America" program. The program will provide Missourians with access to Microsoft certification programs and 24,750 vouchers for specialized e-learning programs.

Officials said recent phone calls about the sheriff's department's Christmas fundraiser were a scam. The Boone County Sheriff's Department does not conduct any telephone solicitations and urges residents to be careful to never provide any personal or bank account information to telephone solicitors.

Missouri's transportation department issued an emergency declaration allowing trucks taking crops to local grain bins, elevators or processors to carry 10 percent more than their legally licensed weight. Heavy rains made it more difficult for many farmers to harvest their crops this year, and the state Department of Agriculture asked for the declaration to make it easier for farmers to take their crops to market.

A coalition of six community organizations calling itself
the “TASER-Free Columbia Campaign" announced on Friday a proposed
November 2010 ballot initiative that would ban all use of Tasers inside
city limits.

Missouri's Legislative Budget Office closed Friday because lawmakers had earlier decided not to reauthorize it. The office was created in 2007 as an independent resource for lawmakers looking to analyze how bills and policies affect the state's budget.

Sarah Jones, 12, was born 15 weeks premature with cerebral palsy, followed by various other health conditions. A life-long friend, Zaph Boand, along with the help of the family and friends in the community, organized a night to remember event for her.